Europe

European Commission raids offices of RWE, Vemex and several other gascompanies
iDNES, 2011-09-27
The European Commission (EC) has raided offices of several gas companies in Europe because of alleged breaches of competition rules. Although the EC has not disclosed names of countries and firms which were raided, RWE Transgas of the Czech Republic has admitted that inspectors visited RWE, RWE Transgas and RWE Supply & Trading. Vemex, a subsidiary of Gazprom Germania, was raided too. The company has said that it considers it to be a standard control and is sure that it did not break rules.

Finland

UPM increases its energy business Helsingin Sanomat, 2011-09-29
Finnish forest industry company UPM plans to grow as a producer and seller of electricity, in Finland. According to Anja Silvennoinen, SVP, UPM, Energy Business Area, the company prepares for the completion of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant by boosting its organisation. UPM's energy business unit already employs 90 people. The company's personnel does not include power plant staff, however, as the production of electricity takes place in subsidiaries and associated companies.

Greece

Prime Minister is determined to allow mega solar power investment balkans.com (Greece), 2011-09-27
Greece's Prime Minister, Giorgos Papandreou, is due to visit Berlin this week, where he will hold talks regarding a huge solar power project in Greece, which will be capable of filling the energy gap that will be left by Angela Merkel's decision to phase out nuclear production in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

The solar project, names as Project Helios, will include the installation of photovoltaic panels on a 20,000 hectares area of depleted lignite mines near the northern Greek city of Kozani. The project is expected to attract some EUR 20bn (USD 27bn) worth of investment, it will create some 30,000-60,000 new jobs and will make the country a pioneer in solar energy production. The generated energy will be then exported to Northern Europe, with exports to Germany reaching 10,000-15,000MW's according to Papandreou.

Italy

A2A has renewable energy asset proposal for EDF over Edison La Repubblica, 2011-09-30
Italian utility A2A's Director General Renato Ravanelli said that the company seeks to acquire French peer EDF's renewable energy assets in exchange for its stake in the Italian utility Edison. This is part of the ongoing negotiations for Edison's shareholding reorganisation. EDF had initially offered to buy the Italian shareholders' stake in Edison for EUR 1 (USD 1.36) - EUR 1.1 per share in addition to a premium of around 30% on current market values.

Lithuania

Hitachi concerned about financing for nuclear plant project Baltic News Service, 2011-09-27
The Lithuanian government's negotiations with the Japanese-US energy company, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy (HGNE), on the construction of a new nuclear plant in Lithuania may take longer than expected, Verslo Zinios reports.

Spain

E.ON doubles renewable energy capacity to 430 MW in three years
REVE, 2011-09-27
German energy group, E.ON, has managed to double its renewable energy capacity installed in Spain in three years, now having 430 MW in wind, thermal solar and biomass energy. Since 2008, the firm has spent almost EUR 1.20bn (USD 1.63bn) on renewable energy capacity in the country, out of a total investment of over EUR 4.5bn.

Switzerland

Council of States confirms the end of nuclear power
Le Temps, 2011-09-28
The Swiss Council of States, the upper house of the Swiss parliament, has confirmed plans to end nuclear power production in Switzerland. The five existing nuclear power stations will not be replaced by new sources of nuclear power once they are closed. No authorisation for new nuclear power stations will be given.

UK

Coal power stations may close four years earlier than expected Telegraph (UK), 2011-09-30
The UK Government has admitted that under European Union (EU) rules, three of the country's coal power stations will probably have to close up to four years sooner than expected. It now anticipates that the Scottish Power-owned Cockenzie station will probably close completely by April 2012, whilst the E.ON-owned Kingsnorth station will probably close by March 2013 and RWE's Tilbury station may have to close by July 2013 unless the EU can be convinced that becoming a biomass station will make it cleaner.

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Vattenfall is a European energy company with approximately 20,000 employees. Together we produce heat and electricity from the energy sources; wind, hydro, biomass, solar, nuclear, coal and gas. To continuously and reliably deliver energy to our society we need a variety of energy sources.